Korg Poly800/EX800 Users

Hey everyone,

Just saying hi. I'm a big fan of the Poly-800. I bought my first one back in 1985 ($890!!!) 
at Steve's Music in Ottawa, and I well remember seeing a stack of about 20 of them in 
boxes in the showroom. They were selling like hotcakes.

Back in the day, I had a tough time choosing between the Poly-800 and the Juno 106. A 
buddy of mine had the Juno (and a JX3P) and there was just something about the 800 
which beat them both. I eventually had three (!) in my setup, along with a Yamaha DX-27 
and two Akai S-612 rack-mounted samplers. Played in a pop band then, and the set up 
sounded great!

I'm getting back in to playing again (with my old band no less!) and I have a Korg 
Wavestation, and I just got a Poly-800 off ebay. Can't wait to get that thing humming 
again. I loved programming it, and I really appreciated that it was an instrument that you 
could know intimately, despite its limitations. I crafted some killer strings, pads and lead 
patches, and I wrote down all the parameter info back in the day. When my Poly arrives, I'll 
doublecheck the patches and post some.

Anyway, nice to see a list dedicated to this warhorse. I know for many a big-haired, eye-
shadowed player back in the 80s, this was the board they learned on. 

Shep

----- Original Message -----

From: bigfiver69

To: korgpolyex@...m

Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 6:26 PM

Subject: [korgpolyex] New fella

Hey everyone,

Just saying hi. I'm a big fan of the Poly-800. I bought my first one back in 1985 ($890!!!)
at Steve's Music in Ottawa, and I well remember seeing a stack of about 20 of them in
boxes in the showroom. They were selling like hotcakes.

Back in the day, I had a tough time choosing between the Poly-800 and the Juno 106. A
buddy of mine had the Juno (and a JX3P) and there was just something about the 800
which beat them both. I eventually had three (!) in my setup, along with a Yamaha DX-27
and two Akai S-612 rack-mounted samplers. Played in a pop band then, and the set up
sounded great!

I'm getting back in to playing again (with my old band no less!) and I have a Korg
Wavestation, and I just got a Poly-800 off ebay. Can't wait to get that thing humming
again. I loved programming it, and I really appreciated that it was an instrument that you
could know intimately, despite its limitations. I crafted some killer strings, pads and lead
patches, and I wrote down all the parameter info back in the day. When my Poly arrives, I'll
doublecheck the patches and post some.

Anyway, nice to see a list dedicated to this warhorse. I know for many a big-haired, eye-
shadowed player back in the 80s, this was the board they learned on.

Shep

--- In korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com, "bigfiver69" <bsheppard@t...> 
wrote:
>
> Hey everyone,
> 
> Just saying hi. I'm a big fan of the Poly-800. I bought my first 
one back in 1985 ($890!!!) 
> at Steve's Music in Ottawa, and I well remember seeing a stack of 
about 20 of them in 
> boxes in the showroom. They were selling like hotcakes.
> 
> Back in the day, I had a tough time choosing between the Poly-800 
and the Juno 106. A 
> buddy of mine had the Juno (and a JX3P) and there was just 
something about the 800 
> which beat them both. I eventually had three (!) in my setup, along 
with a Yamaha DX-27 
> and two Akai S-612 rack-mounted samplers. Played in a pop band 
then, and the set up 
> sounded great!
> 
> I'm getting back in to playing again (with my old band no less!) 
and I have a Korg 
> Wavestation, and I just got a Poly-800 off ebay. Can't wait to get 
that thing humming 
> again. I loved programming it, and I really appreciated that it was 
an instrument that you 
> could know intimately, despite its limitations. I crafted some 
killer strings, pads and lead 
> patches, and I wrote down all the parameter info back in the day. 
When my Poly arrives, I'll 
> doublecheck the patches and post some.
> 
> Anyway, nice to see a list dedicated to this warhorse. I know for 
many a big-haired, eye-
> shadowed player back in the 80s, this was the board they learned 
on. 
> 
> Shep


Hi Shep

Your Post remind me that I bought my Poly 800 back in 1985 at Steve 
Music, in Montréal in my case.  It's working like the first day (well 
not exactly because I did the moog slayer mod).
If you want to share the patches you wrote down, i'll be pleased to 
hear it.

Cheers
Bernard

Cheers, guys... 

I'll write down the patches once my board arrives and I can double
check the parameters.

And Bernard, that is pretty cool that we both bought from Steve's. I
lie in Newfoundland, and I saved ALLLLLL summer for mine. Got it on my
16th birthday while we were on vacation in Ottawa. 

My first memory of bringing it home was that I didn't have a stand.
There was no music store in St. John's that sold those cool 'X'
stands. So, I went to k-Mart and bought an ironing board, cut the top
off it and  sprayed-painted it black. Looked awesome.

Not long after that, I remember going for a tryout for a house band at
a club... there was one other keyboard player there, with a DX7.
Anyway, that player did a couple of tunes with the band, and then it
was my turn. I'd programmed a couple of really nice strings on the
poly, and I remember playing 'Call it Love' by Images in Vogue
(remember them!) and the sounds I had were right on the money. As soon
as the rest of the band heard the strings coming out of my little Poly
800, I knew I had the gig. They wanted to jam 'Don't you Forget About
me', and I programmed the lead sounds right there on the spot. I was
16 and I felt like a total pro. You couldn never do that on a DX.

Awesome!
Shep